The state government's proposal to convert the blood bank at J J Hospital into the metropolitan blood bank for the city of Mumbai is being opposed by the members of State Blood Transfusion Council, Maharashtra. Incidentally, the idea to convert the blood bank at J J Hospital into a metropolitan centre was first mooted by members of the Council themselves.

According to the Council sources, the main reason for the dispute is the appointment of a technical consultant from outside the Council while members from the SBTC are alleging that the State should have selected the candidate from within the Council itself.

As per details available, the SBTC has closed in on Prathama Blood Centre from Ahmedabad to provide for their technical expertise and services for the proposed metropolitan blood bank at J J Hospital.

Confirming the arrangement with Prathama Blood Centre, a senior officer said, "The selected centre is the only blood bank in the country which is successfully implementing the metropolitan concept for more than two years. Moreover, certain parameters like how to deal with a technical snag and overall management skills were a prerequisite that we were looking at while selecting the candidate. It is an important parameter for efficient functioning and sustenance of the project," he said.

According to the officer, the blood bank at J J Hospital would have a similar working pattern as compared to the Prathama Blood Centre which is the only centre in the country that is fully automated and computerized.

But according to an officer said to be opposing the move, instead of selecting expertise from outside the State it would be wise to make use of in-house expertise to carry out the project. "There are qualified and experienced personnel within the SBTC itself, why was there a need to appoint somebody from outside for the project," he questions. "Moreover cost saving should be the other important aspect that the Council should pay heed to," he averred.

But the State isn't paying attention to such minor flaws, as it is the long-term sustenance of the project that actually matters. The authorities have already gone ahead and submitted the proposal to the central authorities. They should be getting the approval within a month from now.

Earlier according to devised plans, the state had drawn a proposal to have a central metropolitan blood bank, which could collect up to 80,000 units of blood per year. Along with it, the centre would also house all the necessary equipments, including deep freeze and deep centrifuge machine for component separation, making it possible for the blood bank to attend to all queries related to blood. Blood separation and fractionisation could also be carried out in this centre.

The concept was formulated by the State Blood Transfusion Council, Maharashtra, wherein the blood bank would act as a community-based blood center and not merely as a hospital blood bank.